Real-time position control of intelligent pneumatic actuator (IPA) system using optical encoder and pressure sensor

Abstract

Purpose – Intelligent pneumatic actuator (IPA) is a new generation of actuator developed for Research and Development (R&D) purposes in the academic and industrial fields. The purpose of this paper is to show the application of optical encoder and pressure sensor in IPA, to develop a real-time model similar to the existing devices, and to assess the position control performance using a proportional-integrative (PI) controller and a bang-bang controller in real-time. Design/methodology/approach – A micro optical encoder chip is used to detect cylinder rod position by reading constructed laser stripes on a guide rod, whereas a pressure sensor is used to detect the chamber pressure reading. To control the cylinder movements by manipulating pulse-width modulation (PWM) cycles, two unit valves of two ports and two positions were used. A PI controller and a bang-bang controller are used with suitable gain value to drive the valve using PWM to achieve the target actuator position. Findings – The results show the experimental results of the closed-loop position tracking performance of the system using a data acquisition (DAQ) card over MATLAB software. Originality/value – This paper presents a real-time model used to replace the microcontroller-based system from previous IPA design. The paper proposes two control strategies, PI and bang-bang, to control position using encoder and pressure reading.

Development of Nonlinear Adaptive PI Controller For Improved Pneumatic Actuator System

“…( 12) is then reducing to (13) According to (13), the tuning parameters, Kp and Ki are obviously dependent to the error, e, the Frechet derivative and the output of the proportional and integral parts, yp and yi, respectively. The can be stated as (14) where .…”

“…The development of the IPA system and the first application of the proportional-integral (PI) controller to the IPA were detail explained in [11][12]. It then continued by the implementation of the pole-placement feedback controller and PI with bang-bang controller as discussed in [13] and [14], respectively. The study to control the IPA system was extended to predictive functional control (PFC) and model predictive control (MPC), such presented in [3][4][5]15].…”

Non-Parametric Identification Techniques for Intelligent Pneumatic Actuator

“…It can be integrated with microprocessor, and various micro sensors. This type of actuators has communication ability, local control functions and reduces the number of cables connected, as well as high performance actuator motions [16]. They are extensively used in the automation of production machinery, robotics, and in the field of automatic control.…”